Opinion: EPL still the world's best despite Spanish success

Leicester City shocked the world to win the Premier League (Reuters)
Leicester City shocked the world to win the Premier League (Reuters)

Given the successes that teams in Spain's La Liga have enjoyed in recent years, you'd be forgiven for thinking they had completely eclipsed the gap that once existed between them and their British counterparts.

Not much needs to be said about Real Madrid and Barcelona, who currently have about two thirds of the world's best players at their disposal – including the mythical duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Opinion: EPL still the world's best despite Spanish success

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi (Reuters)

But then there's a slew of other clubs – Atletico Madrid for one, who have managed to keep pace with Spain's giants in La Liga despite a significantly smaller budget, and have overcome both Barcelona and Bayern Munich on the way to this year's Champions League final.

Sevilla, too, somehow consistently defy the odds – they just last week made it to their third Europa League final in three years – while Athletic Bilbao, Villareal, Valencia and Malaga all more than hold their own in a myriad of competitions.

However despite all of that, England still reigns supreme when it comes to having the world's best domestic league – even without their success on a European front.

The reason for that claim essentially comes down to one concept: depth.

While Spain has about seven sides of true quality in their competition, England has closer to 20.

There's no rest period for the Premier League's top teams. The likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona can put out their reserves for league games against mid-table sides and still guarantee a result, while their top players focus on European competitions and important cup games.

Opinion: EPL still the world's best despite Spanish success

Liverpool's Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez in 2014 (Reuters)

In the Premier League, you won't get away with that. Liverpool's league success in the 2013/14 campaign was largely due to not having to play European fixtures and getting knocked out of domestic cups early. They were able to play Suarez, Sturridge and Gerrard week in, week out.

It's the same with new champions Leicester – imagine how much greater the struggle of winning the Premier League would have been had they been forced to put Mahrez, Vardy and Kante on the bench every second or third week?

Their success in the EPL, while an incredible achievement, relied heavily on England's traditional footballing giants casting their eye away from the league to focus on other competitions.

Time and time again in this season alone, English teams put out their top guns in the Champions League to earn a big result, only to rest a few players and come unstuck in an away game against a plucky Stoke or Swansea side.

That's the difference – resting players is a luxury every other league's top sides can afford to do – whether it be Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A or France Ligue 1 – but that's because the strength of their opposition is so much lower.

Opinion: EPL still the world's best despite Spanish success

PSG beat Troyes 9-0 to win the French national title with eight matches remaining (Reuters)

One can argue that English teams don't perform on the European front while the Spanish sides do – they'd just have to point to the fact that Liverpool were the only non-Spaniards to knock out a Spanish team in any European competition this season, with three of the four spots available in the Champions League and Europa League finals going to Atletico, Sevilla and Real Madrid.

That's a valid criticism, and something the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal need to address – but people forget the intense pressure that's put on every single English game.

And while the new TV rights deal coming into effect next season will give Premier League sides a boost amounting to tens of millions of dollars in revenue which can be used to buy better players, that will ultimately level the playing field further – and make it harder for England's best to succeed consistently.

Newshub.